


Twilight

by Too_Many_Fandoms_Why



Series: The Last of Us -Too_Many_Fandoms_Why [1]
Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23240341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Too_Many_Fandoms_Why/pseuds/Too_Many_Fandoms_Why
Summary: Ellie reflects on her life and shares a moment with Joel.
Relationships: Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Series: The Last of Us -Too_Many_Fandoms_Why [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670953
Comments: 10
Kudos: 29





	Twilight

**Author's Note:**

> I want it to be abundantly clear that this is strictly platonic. Joel is Ellie’s dad. Thanks and gig’ em.

“I swear.”

“Okay.”

It’s been over a month since Joel and Ellie had the conversation, and Ellie can’t seem to get it out of her head. She believes Joel, or at least she thinks she does. She hasn’t exactly been given the gift of emotional intelligence from her first 15 years of life so she can’t be sure if Joel was telling the complete truth. The only thing she does know is that something didn’t feel quite right.

But at the same time, there really isn’t any plausible alternatives. What else could have happened?! At the end of the day, it’s the only thing that makes sense, that after this terrifying fucking journey she means nothing to the world.

But she means something to Joel. He’s shown her that since… well, she can’t quite recall. It happened at some point between the whole “You’re not my daughter and I sure as hell ain’t your dad” (ouch. Still stings.) and the giraffes. 

Maybe it’s all in her head. Joel’s never lied to her before, even when she really really wished he would, what reason does she have to doubt him? After all he’s done for her? 

She doesn’t know. It doesn’t make sense. She doesn’t think it ever will, and that fucking sucks. It all just spirals in her head. Over and over on repeat, and she’s so exhausted. She’d give anything for some silence. To go to sleep without a thought in her head, or tension in her muscles. But damn, that’s fucking depressing, and makes her sound like that stupid chick Bella from Twilight. The worst goddamn book she’s ever read. 

(Sue her. It was the only book she had at the time, and she was shitting herself she was so bored)

Aggressively, she throws the covers off her bed and jumps up, causing an infuriated creaking sound. Fuck her. Joel has the ears of a hawk and probably heard that. After everything can she not even be considerate? She knows Joel will check on her, as he does fairly fucking frequently. So she scurries into her bathroom.

It’s sweet of him to care. It really is. Clears a bit of the fog in her mind. But he shouldn’t HAVE to care. He shouldn’t have to deal with a stupid teenage girl ruminating about her stupid problems that don’t even make sense. He doesn’t deserve that.

She hears a light knock on the door.

“Hey Ellie, I heard you get up, so I figured I’d let you know I’m headed downstairs to watch a movie if you’d like to join.”

A movie. Hell yes. Escapism here she comes. She studies her face in the mirror for a moment to be sure whatever's inside her head stays there, and doesn’t bleed onto her face, and then she runs down the stairs. 

Does she feel like running? Absolutely not. But being what she refers to as “Happy Ellie” will keep Joel from questioning her. And… it reminds her of who she wants to be. Who she could be if her mind would let her. 

“What are we watching?” She asks, jumping onto the couch from behind.

“Well, I was gonna save it for your birthday, but I suppose impatience comes with old age. We are gonna watch a classic, something I really really think you’re gonna love.” He says with a hand behind his back.

Ellie didn’t appreciate the tiny upturn in Joel’s usual grimace. She looked at him with suspicion.

“Twilight!”

She stared at him for a long time. A really long time. She stared at his arms, holding out the awful disk, with awfully dramatic cover art.

“Fuck you old man. I know better than this. That’s the shittiest movie EVER.”

Joel gasps, a look of exaggerated pain on his face. “How could you say that? This movie is a masterpiece. A true gift.”

Ellie shoves Joel, causing him to fall onto his side of the couch dramatically while holding the DVD case.

“Damn. You got me. I’m just playing.” He opens the ugly twilight case. Inside is a disk labelled The Martian. “It’s a space movie. A really fucking good one.”

“It better be.” Ellie says, cracking her first genuine smile. 

Nothing feels right. Nothing except this. Ellie thinks as she rests her head on Joel.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeahhhh I know noones in this fandom anymore but I just got the memo and played the game and holy SHIT the feels.
> 
> If anyones out there. PLEASE message me! Give me prompts! Tell me your thoughts about the game and the upcoming one!
> 
> Have an amazing day!🌸


End file.
